


Teivu

by Thedragonne



Category: heck theres none, suck my ass - Fandom
Genre: Dragons, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 14:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15974255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thedragonne/pseuds/Thedragonne
Summary: A mysterious dragon takes control over a failing kingdom and starts kidnapping princesses in order to get gold and build his hoard. Over years of this, he makes a mistake. Instead of a princess, he takes a prince. Neither party knows how to deal with the situation.





	1. Chapter One

The mountain range beyond the city limits, where the wilderness flourishes. The trees grow taller than anywhere else in Umai. No human dares to pass the forest limits as the things that lurk inside won’t hesitate to make them pay for it. Legends say there are trees in the woods that are thousands of years old and the spirits of lost adventurers live inside them, watching the trees grow ever larger for eternity.Never being able to leave. No one has ever returned from it. People have stopped entering for fear of being eaten alive by everything that moves inside, without ever knowing what the creature even is. The trees are so large, that the sunlight can’t find a way inside. Wild animals are witnessed coming and going as they please, but when it’s a domestic animal, everything is different. One they go inside, they’re never the same when they leave. 

One villager told a story once of her dog going inside to chase a rabbit, but when he came back, he acted like he forgot who she was. He was only gone a few minutes at most, though he looked like he was in there for years. His fur was matted and he was thin. He passed away days later. 

The land curves up sharply in many places and large rocks are scattered everywhere, tales say the mountains used to be volcanoes and that’s where they came from. The mountains exploded, boulders the size of houses rained down from the heavens and the ash transformed day into night. A red glow lit the darkness. But the volcano is extinct now, so there is no worry. At least with the land. 

Upon the dead peak, inside an old vent where the lava used to breathe, a large and ancient creature lives. Giant, leathery wings carry its serpentine body gracefully through the skies. Deep blue scales as strong as steel shield its body. It breathes air as hot as fire, and sparks that set things ablaze. It is so quick and secretive that no one has ever seen it in person, and if anyone has, they never lived to tell the tale of it. Puvaria was taken over by a tyrant lizard king, and they had no say in it. Anyone who dared to rise against it was snatched up in the night, never to be seen again. Their houses are always set on fire, and whatever was inside was gone.

Puvaria. A bustling town. Buildings once sprouted up like seedlings, spreading out from the castle in the center of the kingdom. They spread fast and wide, taking up all the available lands and staking claims to their own portions of it. Roads winding every which way, but all eventually connected and lead up to the castle. On the outskirts of the towering homes and businesses lay the farms. The acres and acres of crops stretch for miles, some seem to go on forever over the flat plains. They provide the kingdom with the vital food that they need. The castle in the middle stood tall, though some parts were in ruins. It was a lot of money to fix the walls, a lot of money that the king didn’t have. The towers that still stood reach for the skies, beckoning the clouds to come closer so they can meet. They never do. Instead, they drench everything for half the year before they disappear, the dry season urging them away. But the clouds always make it back in time for the first snow of winter.

Within the castle lives a king and his son and daughter. The queen passed when his children were young; they don’t remember her. He doesn’t talk about her anymore, instead he just stares longingly at old portraits that hang on the walls, wishing that she would one day return to him. He never found a way to bring her back. No one asks him about her, they know the pain he is in when he hears her name. He still misses her. 

His eldest child, the son, he is the heir and he will be 18 soon. The throne will be his. However, his younger sister doesn’t like that, and often protests the decision whenever she sees an opportunity to. The king never listens, and the anger is short-lived. 

“Master Elyes,” A maid stood in the doorway of the darkened library, the only source of light coming from the windows. “Your father wishes to speak to you.” 

“As always.” The prince replied without looking up from his book.

“He says it’s important, you should hurry along.” She urged, leaning on the doorframe.

Elyes rolled his golden eyes from behind the faded cover of the book he read. “It never is.” 

“Please don’t keep him waiting, Elyes. He takes out his frustration on me and the other maids.” The woman flattened her dress before she turned and briskly left the doorway to return to her duties.

He sighed with a small shake of his head, taking his feet off the table and leaning forward to slam his book closed onto the wooden surface. The prince propped his head up on his hand and tapped his fingers on his other in a familiar rhythm on the table, glaring halfheartedly at the door. He loved the maids, he appreciated them for the work they do when they get so little money out of it. He really did. But he just hated how instead of talking out his feelings, the king just took it out on them. It wasn’t their fault. His father had a lot of things on his mind, and a lot more to tell him. None of it ever seemed as important as he was lead to believe. Elyes let out one last sigh before pushing himself up to stand, stalking off on his little journey to his dad's office. 

The prince had to walk for some time to get to his destination, so it wasn’t like he had to go there as quick as his legs could carry him. This was just an excuse to sightsee, really. He walked the halls everyday, but they always managed to look so beautiful every time he saw them. The marble columns that lined the walls, the deep purple carpet down the middle of every hall, the deep blue patterns of the curtains that always hung open along the sides of the towering windows, the yellow accent colours that were favoured among the dark shades. Many of the glass behemoths held stories within them as well, shown through the beautifully done stained glass murals. Many were fairy tales, Elyes theorized that they were past kings and queens’ favourite stories, but he had no proof of that. He just liked to think they had some other meaning. Others depicted scenes of knights fighting dragons, and a few even had past kings sitting in the throne in them. They shone the beautiful shades of light all over the floor and the walls, it was a wonderful sight at sunset. 

The halls were always empty, even when it sounded like there was someone around a corner, they never turned out to be there. After a while, Elyes just assumed he was hearing his own footsteps echoing through the halls, and he stopped paying attention to them. The king would pass it off as the castle being so large that you would rarely ever see anyone, but there were barely any guards at all. When Elyes was a child, he always remembered seeing the guards in every hall, and sometimes he would play with them with a ball. He loved to kick it around with them, but now they were gone. There were at least maids and butlers hurrying around sometimes, they had a lot to do since at most there was a total of seven of them to clean the castle everyday. It had over sixty rooms, well, at least that was all of them that were still accessible and weren’t caved in. No rooms were repaired, ever. The king passed off all these issues as there being no need to fix it, and no need to have such a large number of people running around. Elyes knew it was because the kingdom was poor.

Outside, the mountains were seen. They were so tall, they could be seen for miles. They always looked so beautiful, and the danger of the woods surrounding them just made it a bittersweet beauty. Elyes longed to see the trees for himself but he knew the dangers, and he would never leave his sister alone. From the tallest peak, a thin stack of smoke arose. The dragon was awake. It was of no concern to the kingdom, it never visited Puvaria’s towns. It seemed to protect them from possible dangers more than anything. The neighboring kingdoms were not as lucky.

Elyes arrived at last at the door he was looking for, gliding his hands up to his long, blond hair to tie it up into a bun as if he was on autopilot. He really did not want to go in there, but at least if his hair was up then his father wouldn’t complain about it and make it take longer than he wanted it to. With a disgruntled sigh, he stepped forward and turned the doorknob, pushing the large door open and stepping inside without a knock.

“Elyes, we’ve talked about this several times.” The king sighed from behind his paperwork.

“And? Just because we’ve had a talk more than once about it, doesn’t mean I’ll start knocking before I enter.” He replied, dragging his feet across the floor to a chair near the desk that his father sat behind.

The king shook his head in disappointment, resting his papers down on his desk and pushing up his glasses. “You’re almost 18, Elyes. You will take the throne soon, understand? You can’t keep acting like this.” 

“Such a bold statement for something that you don’t even know will be true. What makes you think I want it? Give it to Riya for all I care!” Heated, Elyes leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “She wants it! Who says I have to be the one who takes it? No one said it has to be the firstborn!” 

“This isn’t up for debate and you know it,” His father pinched the bridge of his nose with a groan, closing his eyes. “This is how it’s always been, and it will not change just because you want to shut yourself in the library all day and night! You have to take responsibility for something at some point!”

“I’m not a kid anymore! You can’t just boss me around and expect me to get over it!” The prince inhaled sharply, holding his mouth open like he was ready to say more. He closed it after a moment, huffing. “This conversation is pointless, you know. Why do you even try with me anymore? Honestly, Riya is a much better choice than I am. She would make a much better queen than I would a king. Just let her have it!” 

“Listen, Elyes. I’m old. I can’t do these things efficiently anymore, the people deserve better. They can’t wait two more years for your sister to come of age.” The king remained calm.

“No, dad! You can’t wait two more years! You’re an incompetent king and the kingdom is failing because of choices you’ve made! That’s why you don’t want it anymore!” Elyes shouted, glaring daggers from across the desk.

The room was silent. It was deafening. The birds outside that weren’t heard before were just loud enough now, their songs bouncing off the walls of the room. The two stared at each other from opposites sides of the desk, two different emotions on their faces. Nothing was said for an eternity, it seemed like neither even breathed. 

“Get out.” Solemnly, the king ordered. He gestured to the door and snatched up his papers in a haste, putting them in front of his face to obscure the view..

Elyes was already standing up. “Gladly.” He hissed through his clenched teeth, swiftly walking to the door. He slammed it upon exiting.


	2. Chapter Two

Quiet stomps resonated through the castle, its high ceiling amplifying the sound. It told anyone who possibly heard it that Elyes was near, and it was best to avoid him when he was irritated. He had no idea where he was going, but he needed to go somewhere. His room was on the other side of the castle, so he didn’t want to walk for fifteen minutes and not even be angry anymore, then have to walk back. The layout of the castle was quite odd, and he never discovered why he had to walk for so long. The rooms with unknown contents had no labels to say what was on the other side, but he never really looked inside anyways. He wasn’t all that curious about it either way, most of the doors hadn’t been opened in so long that they seemed to have rusted shut.

A faint humming, one of a familiar tune. It bounced through the halls and carried its notes perfectly. He couldn’t place the song that it could be, but it did sound like he knew it. It sounded like he was in an opera house during practice, when the performers would be singing softly to themselves instead of an audience. Elyes slowed his pace, looking around for where it was coming from. A gentle breeze pushed through the halls and dragged his attention to an old room. Interested, he ambled over to the doorway. The door looked like it had been forced open, like it was closed for quite some time until someone decided they wanted in. Upon looking inside, he discovered that the room was in ruins. There was a small figure sitting on the crumbling wall and looking out at the rolling land.

Riya, the princess. She reminded him so much of their dad, the king. Her long, light brown hair with its waves that never seemed to end, the freckles creating a maze across her cheeks and her nose, her shimmering blue eyes that held a thousand secrets. He could never tell what she was thinking, but she could always say exactly what he thought. He never understood how and she never told him. It was more fun to him to speculate how instead of knowing. 

Elyes slowly trailed through the crumbling doorway, eyeing the debris as he moved through it. He could tell Riya had turned to watch him, her humming had stopped. Nervous about being watched, he stepped onto the larger boulders of what must have been the ceiling. It wobbled. He decided it was best to just run through it, so he did. When he slipped, and his sister laughed. He would shoot a glare at her, and he would trip. Once he made it to the wall, all banged up and covered in bruises, he climbed up onto the part Riya sat on. 

It was lower on one side, having caved in on itself. From the top of the room, there was nothing. Just the sky. On the floor, the rubble of what used to be above it covered the once beautiful flooring. It was stacked high near the outer wall where the pair sat on the wall, where half of it still stood. The stained windows had long since shattered, where they were now free of its’ former purpose. Plants oddly liked the old stone that the castle was built out of. Moss enjoyed the wall while several small trees had begun growing. It had been a long time since this room was seen. A cooling breeze swept through, shaking the trees that defied their creator by growing where there was no soil and making Elyes shiver. It was cooling down as the sun began to set. Brilliant oranges and reds flooded the sky, illuminating all that tried to hide in the midday sun. Birds soared through the sky, heading home for the night that was closeby. 

“What were you humming?” Elues questioned, keeping his eyes outward.

“I don’t know, really? I just mixed a few songs together,” Riya dropped her gaze to her hands, fiddling with her nails. “I do it when I’m alone.”

“Well it’s nice.” He shrugged.

Riya smiled to herself, turning to look away so that she could hide it.

Elyes cleared his throat. “Dad wants me to take the throne.” His voice sharpened.

“I know,” She started. “But someone has to. He can’t have it forever, I mean- look at the castle! There’s trees growing all over it, this room is destroyed!... I don’t know if he knows how to deal with the kingdom anymore.” Sighing, she turned to the sky.

“Well, I don’t want it. You can take it.” Elyes turned to her.

“I’m only 15-”

He cut her off. “You’re almost 16, your birthday is coming up, isn’t it? You can do it better than I can, anyways.” 

Riya didn’t respond for a while, narrowing her gaze at the clouds receding into the distance. “You underestimate yourself, Elyes.” 

“No I don’t, I would be terrible. I just want to read all day, who wants that in a king? Paperwork is boring. I don’t even know how to rule! I’d rather be in the library day and night until the day I die.” He huffed, returning to staring at the sky. 

“Dad didn’t think he would be a good king, either.” 

“Huh?” He inquired.

“He told me once about the day he was crowned king. His first day was so crazy that he asked everyone if he could give it away to someone better,” Riya chuckled quietly to herself. “He tried to give it to his brother seven different times, but he was too young and he didn’t want it anyways. Eventually, he realized that he had no choice, so he continued being king. He married Mom soon after...” She trailed off into silence, giving a small frown. “But regardless, if Dad didn’t think he could and he did, then I believe you’ll be a great king. You just have to try.”

The two stared quietly into the distance, looking over the building that faded into the distance. Citizens were heading home in the dwindling light, most had already gotten inside. Smoke stacks began to rise from them, the cooling air becoming too chilly to leave the houses unheated. Birds rested on the castle where they could stay for the night, cooing to each other and eventually falling silent. Riya started humming again, it was a familiar tune. Now he could. “Riya’s song”. 

“You know I reasonably can’t rule right now, right?” Riya asked.

“Who says?”

“Well, I’m a girl, I would be a queen. Everyone’s always looking for the kings.”

“King Riya.” 

She laughed, covering her mouth to muffle it. “No! That’s silly!” She breathed in before releasing it as a sigh. “But I’m still too young… What we could do though is if you’re king until I’m 18, right? And if you still don’t want to be, then you can pass it off to me.”

“Will that work?” Elyes asked, uncertain.

“Why wouldn’t it? At that point you’d be able to change the whole thing and I could take over for you! Two years isn’t even that long for a reign.” Riya smiled.

Elyes bit the inside of his cheek, nodding slowly. He didn’t have much else to say, so he chose to stare out at the scenery instead. The quiet was a nice way to end the conversation, it was welcomed.

“Anyway, I have to go study now. I’ve been putting it off all day.” Riya remarked, already in the middle of standing up. 

“Alright,” Elyes stayed put. “Goodnight, Riya.”

“Night.” She gave a short wave with a smile, then turned to the rubble that was barely visible in the darkness and expertly followed a trail through them like she had practiced it a hundred times. 

Elyes stared wide eyed at the path that he didn’t originally see, stunning and at a loss for words. He never noticed that she came here, but she must do it a lot. A chilling breeze forced the prince out of his thoughts, and he realized very quickly that the sun had just about gone under the horizon. In only a few minutes, there would be no more light. The sky was lit up in the final colours of the sunset. Orange faded into red, and red into the darkening blue and purple, until the darkness consumed it all and the stars slowly began flickering. The moon gave little light, only a sliver of a waning crescent. He didn’t need it to enjoy the stars, at least.

Everyone had gone to bed at that point, smoke stacks rising from chimneys. The stillness of the night took hold of the land, creatures of day settling down for the night to rest and the creatures of night just waking up. Owls gradually began hooting, insects buzzing and chirruping coming in waves. The occasional frog croaked, there weren’t many around the castle so it was a surprise. Wind wound its way through the land, curling around everything in its path and moving past it. It carried the chilly air with it, taking away the final warmth that the sun had left behind.

Autumn was growing nearer and the trees were preparing for the frost of winter, leaves were turning yellow and orange, some were already red. The forest around the mountain was still the same dark green hue it always is. The forest never seemed to change as the rest of the world did, it’s green year round despite everything else working as normal.It will snow, it will rain, but the leaves stay green.

Elyes wanted to trek out to the forest to discover why it stayed green, he had wanted to every year since he learned. But he would never leave his family to discover it. After all, he might not come back. It was a dangerous place.

In an instant, everything fell silent. Owls ceased their hooting, the waves of chirruping insects died out, the frogs ducked away. The birds that had been comfortably resting upon the castle jumped up, spooked. They had all flown away as if something had come to eat them. Not a sound was heard. The wind carried nothing. Elyes snapped his gaze around frantically, trying to find the reason why the night had died. It was too dark to find anything. Something moved behind him, something crumbling onto the mess he walked through.

Elyes rose to his feet slowly, balancing on the wall as if it were a rope. It felt like thousands of eyes were boring holes into his skin, sending chills down his spine. What was out there? He squinted his eyes, thinking that maybe he had seen something move on the rooftop of the castle. Something had definitely moved. The moon was of no help, now he needed it and it wasn’t bright enough. The eerie silence forced the prince to make a decision. The night was not going to help him and he was alone. Whatever made the creatures go silent must be big, so that meant that he should seek shelter. That was all he needed to do. Just get to where the big thing couldn’t go. It wasn’t that far away, if he could just do what Riya did.

Slowly, he inhaled and held it, squinting through the darkness to try and find where the path was that his sister had taken just a little while ago. Thinking he had found it, he took his first jump into the debris. He was lucky not to fall, but the one he stepped on wobbled. The second one, however, was a different story. It covered what the first one missed. He screamed as he fell, his hands going in front of him to catch himself. It failed. Everything went numb.


End file.
